If Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not step down after two years from May as he promised earlier and if Anwar Ibrahim pushes him to do so, and if there is an open battle between them again, does anyone doubt that Mahathir will use Umno MPs to bolster his paltry number of Bersatu MPs?I know I don’t. That is perhaps the intention to float the notion that some 40 Umno MPs will cross over to Mahathir’s Bersatu following reported discussions between the MPs, Mahathir and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.It is a veiled warning to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters to not move too quickly against Mahathir for the former to take over the post of prime minister and an urging to give Mahathir time to give up the top post in his own way.It is also a reflection that many do not want to Anwar to become prime minister and may be keen to persuade Mahathir to back down on his promise for Anwar to succeed him. What better way to do that than to open Bersatu’s doors to Umno MPs and alter the balance of power within Pakatan Harapan to, in one fell swoop, make Bersatu the largest partner in the ruling coalition.That will displace PKR as the party with the largest number of MPs, currently 50, with some party hoppers/independents crossing over followed by DAP with 42. Bersatu comes next with a paltry 13, but now currently 14 with Umno stalwart Mustapa Mohamed (below) joining recently, followed by Amanah’s 11. Warisan, which has an informal alliance with Harapan, has nine seats.If 40 Umno MPs all cross over to Bersatu, its numbers would swell to 54, making it the largest single party not only in Harapan but Malaysia in terms of number of MPs and this will make Mahathir indisputably the strongest leader and well able to dictate terms. Harapan may even get a two-thirds majority to enable constitutional changes, assuming it does not split asunder before that.

However, this is unlikely to happen. Umno leaders have already said that 40 MPs are not crossing over. Even if they are, it will be naive to think all of them will join only Bersatu. Surely Anwar still has enough pull among Umno members to get some of these crossovers.Fact is, all Umno/BN MPs are tainted. Although many would consider Mustapa to be untainted, the fact is that he was an Umno MP, he was an Umno divisional leader and he did not oppose former prime minister Najib Razak when it was very obvious that Najib was involved neck deep in the 1MDB shenanigans where at least RM30 billion is missing and as much as RM42 billion could have been lost one way or another.The same goes for every other Umno MP. If you did not oppose Najib, if you did not speak up against him, and if your division received funds from him, then you implicitly supported him including his actions or inactions over 1MDB. Many did more than that - they explicitly supported Najib, expressing this in no uncertain terms despite all the public information which was already available on 1MDB.Thus, it would be morally and ethically a travesty to accept even one Umno or BN MP by a component party of Harapan or any of its allies because they were all, to a man or woman, complicit in the crimes that Najib committed against the nation.They had enough information to know what Najib was doing but did not act upon it, offering themselves up for re-election into a government of kleptocrats, instead of opposing Najib and refusing to back the BN in any way and even resigning from it.Help democracy progressWould Mustapa have resigned from Umno if Umno/BN had won the elections? No. Would any other Umno MP or state assemblyman or assemblywoman have? No, absolutely not.Why would they resign now? Simply because they want to be on the winning side. Also, they are hoping that once they are in Harapan, that would give them immunity against prosecution. Remember, the investigating authorities are not yet independent - the prime minister appointed them.

The other reason BN MPs/state assemblypersons should not be accepted is that it will be an outright betrayal of Malaysian voters who strongly registered their protest against Umno/BN across the board. Mahathir himself stated that he wanted to get rid of corrupt Najib, which would imply without a doubt this applied to Najib’s allies too - in the cabinet, in the legislative assemblies and anywhere else.To do otherwise is to make a mockery of promised reform measures and to return to the old style of corruption and political patronage which may a bit better than kleptocracy - but not all that much because we know that billions can effectively be stolen through overpriced contracts and such.Leaders, especially Mahathir and Anwar, must realise that the old government was overthrown on the promise of sweeping reforms and eliminating corruption. These promises cannot be thrown out of the window in the name of political expediency. And if they do that, they do so at their own peril for there will be adverse reactions from the people, if not now, then in the future.The best way forward for Malaysia is to follow the pledged route to the new promised land via the Harapan manifesto where the people will be put first and everything will be done to benefit them and not just a small section of the influential and corrupt public.For that to happen smoothly, the transition of power to Anwar must proceed without a hitch. The old style buying of power by enticing elected representatives to cross over ala Sabah and Perak must be totally abandoned and forever banished.As part of reforms, simply put in place unambiguous laws to stop party-hopping once and for all. If you resign from the party under whose banner you stood for your seat, you lose your seat immediately and a by-election will be automatically held. By all means, allow the resigning elected representative to stand as well to see if he can get a new mandate from his constituency.That will help democracy progress because you were after all elected under a particular party and if you resign you must seek a new mandate from those who elected you. Let’s see how many elected representatives will resign then. - P.Gunasegaram

Question: How do you know when former disgraced prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is lying?Answer: His lips move.Najib was toast, the minute he sat down for an interview with Mary Ann Jolley, from Al-Jazeera. His performance started well. He was brimming with confidence, and even allowed himself to smile, but later his mask slipped and when Jolley began serious questioning, there was no turning back. He was snared.When Najib threatened to leave, and bellowed, "Come on, you're not being fair to me", followed by, "I'm not going to stand anymore of this", we were reminded of his evil treatment of others.Najib and his henchmen had not acted fairly, to the people who died, or those who were arrested, dragged to court and fined and/or jailed for insulting him and his wife, the self-styled former First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM), Rosmah Mansor.Why did Najib agree to the interview? He is used to a fawning mainstream media. He cannot handle probing questions. He hates being grilled. It reminds him too much of the MACC.Even when he met Malaysian students in High Commissions and embassies, their questions were screened by his aides and only pathetic ones like, "What does your cat eat for dinner?" were allowed.Last night, when pressed about Altantuya Shaarriibuu, the Mongolian model-cum-interpreter, who was murdered, Najib's composure dropped. Minutes earlier, his Adam's apple had been bobbing up and down like a yo-yo.

Blame gameFor many years, I have observed his body language, while being interviewed by the foreign media. In happier times, he was relaxed, but last night, a scowling man was revealed. His head was cocked to one side and his eyes pleaded for assistance from an aide, who was hidden from the camera.Jolley's interview gave us a glimpse of a man who still thinks he can do no wrong. Twenty seconds into the interview (at 4.03 min) Najib was playing the blame game.When asked for his thoughts on the night he lost GE-14, and why he thought Malaysians wanted change, a defiant and dismissive Najib denied that he or FLOM was responsible for the defeat.He said Umno-Baru/BN lost because (1) the Opposition made promises, which Najib claimed they could not keep, because Pakatan Harapan did not think they could win, and (2) Umno-Baru/BN lost the propaganda war.Yet, Umno-Baru and BN controlled the television, radio and newspapers. The Malaysia Communications and Multi-Media Commission (MCMC) blocked websites which reported negatively on Najib. Umno-Baru/BN cybertroopers would complain to Facebook, alleging that anti-Umno-Baru/BN posts had broken some rule or other.Support for Najib has dwindled. Former friends are suing him. His only emotional backing is the occasional tweet, from his daughter, who is 9,500 miles away.When he was the all-powerful PM of Malaysia, he deported foreign journalists, banned vocal Malaysians from leaving the country, and refused to take part in debates. So why did he allow the whole world to see him squirm?Is Najib more naive, and daft, than we thought possible? Was this last hurrah to convince the public of his innocence?

Cloud of liesHave his media advisers, and expensive foreign publicity gurus, left him? Has he no money to pay them? Did they flee because association with Najib is detrimental to their reputation?Najib has only one press secretary, Tengku Sharifuddin Tengku Ahmad, who sensed the media danger, and quickly intervened to steer him away from Jolley, and towards safety.That image has been seared into our minds. A red-faced and irate Najib scolding Jolley, a worried Sharifuddin looking on. The arrogant Najib then accused Jolley of spreading lies and said that journalists like her deserved to be deported. Not a good move!Is Najib aware of his self-inflicted PR damage? One doubts he is aware.Has he been so cocooned, throughout his political life, that he cannot distinguish between reality and political theatre? Between good and bad? Between theft and gifts?Forty-two years ago, the novice politician, Najib, climbed the greasy pole of power. Since then, he has been protected by his yes-men who have never let on that he lacks charisma and has nothing between his ears. Najib was their "periuk nasi" and so, they fed his ego.Najib, like his Umno-Baru and BN peers, had it good for many decades. At the height of their powers, we lived under a cloud of lies, injustice, greed and criminality. Leaders took shortcuts, and changed the rules to suit themselves.Najib's excessive greed was encouraged by his cronies, who benefited from his largesse. The Malay hinterlands, his non-Malay cronies and their hangers-on all supported him.I say that Najib was good for Malaysia, because his greed finally made Malaysians come to their senses.Anyone who has heated milk in a pan, will know that if left unattended, the milk will boil over.Najib took...and took...and took. He could not control his greed, just like the overheated milk which can reach a point of no-return.Only when the pan overflowed, did we notice something wrong and had to clear up the mess.That is why Najib, with his insatiable greed was good for us, otherwise we would have had to endure another 61 years of suffering.Thank God his greed boiled over, and saved us. - Mariam Mokhtar

Najib Razak appears to be a step closer to spending years in prison. The ex-prime minister has consistently denied any wrongdoing since the 1MDB scandal erupted in 2015. He has claimed the US$681 million (popularly known by Malaysians as RM2.6 billion) deposited in his personal bank account were a donation from a Saudi royal, refuting reports that the funds came from 1MDB.

The disgraced son of Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second prime minister, however, has made a small U-turn during an hour-grilling with Al-Jazeera’s reporter Mary Ann Jolley. Speaking to Al Jazeera’s 101 East in an exclusive interview on Friday (Oct 26), serial liar Najib said he actually did not verify the source of the RM2.6 billion or who owns the funds.

In the interview where he could no longer smirk like he usually did, Najib’s latest twist was that he “assumed” that the donations were connected to Saudi Arabia – reversing his earlier insistence that the US$681 million was from the royal house of King Abdullah. He was also being quizzed over matters like the infamous “pink diamond” purchased by his wife, Rosmah Mansor.Coincidently, Mary Ann Jolley was the same journalist whom the Najib previous administration deported in 2015 while she was pursuing a story on the Altantuya Shariibuu murder. In that story, Al-Jazeera revealed how Najib informed his buddy Razak Baginda that he had sexual relationship with Altantuya. Witness Balasubramaniam’s Statutory Declaration said it was “anal intercourse”.Due to her explosive report on the gruesome murder of Altantuya 3 years ago, Mary Ann Jolley was deported by 5 Malaysian immigration officers and a man in military outfit. You can read here how the panicked Najib Razak had resorted to bullying the Al-Jazeera journalist. The documentary – “Murder in Malaysia” – was one of Al-Jazeera weekly programmes 101 East.

Has Najib Razak lost his mind agreeing to be interviewed by the same journalist he had bullied back in 2015? Perhaps he thought Mary Ann Jolley would not give him hard time. But that’s precisely what a professional reporter would do, and she had a great time grilling Najib not only on his RM2.6 billion donation, but also his beloved wife Rosmah’s 22-K pink diamond necklace worth US$27 million.

Najib reportedly lost his composure several times during the interview. But there’s a bigger problem than losing his cool. He has just lost another witness, arguably the most powerful witness who might lend credence to his story on the so-called RM2.6 billion donation and potentially free him from being dumped into prison with the key thrown away.

You know Najib is screwed when Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir came for a visit. Did Najib actually think Mr. Adel come all the way from Saudi to tell Mahathir Mohamad that the 93-year-old prime minister was senile and has mistaken Najib as the bad guy? Did Najib think the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would vouch for him that the RM2.6 billion was indeed donation?

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said his counterpart Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir has re-confirm that the RM2.6 billion donation received by Najib has nothing to do with the government of Saudi Arabia whatsoever. Mr. Saifuddin said Mr. Adel had earlier expressed the Saudi government’s stand when they met at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

“He (Adel) stated that the donation had nothing to do with the Saudi government. Today, he reiterated it,” – Saifuddin said. Interestingly, in 2016, while attending the 13th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Mr. Adel was reported as saying the donation to Najib came from Saudi Arabia. So, the Arabs lied and cannot be trusted.

After the brutal assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi where the royal house was caught lying endless times, does it really matter what Adel said? He could be lying in 2016 to help Najib due to his close relationship with Saudi. And he could be lying again today to not offend Mahathir government after the stunning downfall of Najib in the May 9th polls.

Either way, it’s absolutely bad news to Najib as he cannot rely on Saudi to support his case. Even if Adel was telling the truth 2 years ago and lies through his teeth today, the reputation and credibility of Saudi being the generous royal house is essentially destroyed. Najib can actually kiss and throw away whatever documents which say the RM2.6 billion was donation from the kingdom.

Since 2016, pro-Najib cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers have been screaming until foaming at the mouth – proudly declaring that the RM2.6 billion was donation from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, based on Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir’s admission. It would be interesting and fun to see the reaction from the same pool of paid cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers.

Are they going to mock King Salman, his crown prince and all the 15,000 princes and princesses? Are they going to insult the treacherous Arabs for abandoning Najib at a time when he needs them the most? Or will they cook up half-baked tales that the 93-year-old Mahathir has blackmailed and threatened the Saudi government into changing their story against Najib?

Amusingly, former Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi will now officially be known as a serial liar too. In August 2015, Mr. Zahid declared that he has met the wealthy Arab family who had donated the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) that was channelled into Najib Razak’s personal account.

Widely reported by foreign news, Mr. Zahid claimed the “king and prince”, whom he did not name, had donated the money because of Malaysia’s commitment in fighting terrorism, and being a moderate Muslim country with a plural society. He also claimed that the Arab family was impressed by how Malaysia, with its plural society, still managed to remain moderate without sidelining any other religions.

Zahid, who was then vice-president of UMNO, proudly told all and sundry at a meeting with Kepong UMNO division that the donors were “Arab king and prince”, and that the royal family had decided to make the huge donation due to Najib’s anti-Jewish stance. He also said the donors wanted to keep UMNO and the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in power.

More importantly, Mr. Zahid, who is now UMNO president, said he saw with his own eyes the cheque made under his boss Najib’s name – “I saw the documents myself – the original documents, not photostated ones, andI also saw the money trail. I obtained the information accurately and did not add or minus the facts. The conspiracy to topple the government would take place if not stopped.”Of course, when Zahid emerged from his 8-hour questioning by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in July, he sang a different tune. In a short press conference, he told reporters about “wakil (representative)” of the Arab family, not “Arab king and prince”. Najib lost a valuable witness that day. Today, he lost another critical witness – the Saudi government. - FTMalaysians must thank Najib for the semi-aborted Al Jazeera interview

27 October 2018

In May, after more than 60 years in government, Malaysia’s ruling party were kicked out, plagued by growing corruption allegations, financial scandals and even claims of m urder. Now fighting for his legacy and freedom, former Prime Minister Najib Razak faces charges of money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.

In this exclusive episode of 101 East, Mary Ann Jolley interviews former Prime Minister Najib Razak and asks, what went wrong.

Former Prime Minister Datul Seri Najib Razak lost his cool several times during an interview with Al Jazeera for its 101 East programme today.

In a press release, Al Jazeera said Najib was questioned on a long list of issues including the “pink diamond”, the “RM2.6 billion donation” during the hour-long “grilling”.

Najib “lost his cool a couple of times” and questions regarding the pink diamond left him “visibly irritated” while more questions on the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shariibuu made things worse.

According to Al Jaeera, the interview was conducted by Mary Ann Jolley, who was deported by Najib's Government in 2015 while she was doing a documentary on the Altantuya murder.

Arul “Anaconda” Kanda Kandasamy Would Be The Next Crook To Be Arrested...

Former premier Najib Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were jointly charged with six counts of Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) involving government funds worth RM6.6 billion yesterday. They were alleged to have committed the offences between Dec 2016 and Dec 2017. Interestingly, both individuals, including their lawyers, think the charges were amusing.

Najib, already facing 32 charges previously including CBT, money laundering and abuse of power, claims that the charges don’t make sense. Proclaiming that “his conscience is clear”, he said – “Don’t assume that the money has disappeared. It has not. Whatever we did, we can prove in court that it was done with the interest of the country in mind, God willing.”

Mr. Najib’s so-called hot-shot lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told all and sundry that his team was absolutely happy because the charges are absurd. Well, if the charges are indeed jaw-dropping and incredibly absurd, then Mr. Shafee should not have any issue defending his client. So, why was there a need for Najib to proclaim his conscience being clear just to make a point?

The first two charges against Najib and Serigar, concerning RM 1.2 billion and RM655 million respectively, involved land acquisitions for two projects. The third charge involved a RM220 million allocation for administration expenses meant for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The fourth charge involved a RM1.3 billion allocation for subsidy and cash aids (BR1M).

The fifth and sixth charges, involving 1.95 billion Yuan (RM1.261 billion) and RM2 billion respectively, involved Chinese companies. The third to sixth charges were related to a payment to IPIC (Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co). However, “hot shot” lawyer Shafee claims there was no personal benefit involved in this context.

Shafee said the first two charges are “wholly unfounded” and in fact – foolish – as the allegations merely involved a “reprioritisation” of the funds. The decisions undertaken by Najib and Irwan “was for the good of the nation” – claimed Najib’s lawyer. The attorney arrogantly declares – “We’ll have fun and the prosecution will have nightmares.”

Misappropriation – that’s the word to describe what the crooks Najib and Serigar had committed. So, which part of “misappropriation” that hot-shot lawyer Shafee doesn’t understand? Another word for misappropriation is embezzlement. If Najib and his crooked lawyer still don’t like the words, how about stealing, thieving or pilfering?

It was like a finance director of a company who had stolen money decided to borrow money from loan shark using the company as guarantor. He wanted to buy himself a Lamborghini and to satisfy his wife’s desire for Hermes Birkin handbags. Unable to pay back the loans, the crook started to divert funds from the company – from selling furniture to diverting department allocations – in order to pay the loan shark.

Yes, Mr. Shafee and Mr. Najib told only half of the story to gullible and ignorant supporters. Based on their logic, the finance director was merely involved in “reprioritisation” of the funds. The decisions undertaken by the director “was for the good of the company”, without which thugs would be sent by the loan shark. The director’s “clear conscience” had prevented the company from defaulting.

Like the story above, Najib and his lawyer deliberately hide the part about the reason why the ex-prime minister had to divert or reprioritize the national funds in the first place. Of course Najib Razak and Irwan Serigar did not pocket a sen from the RM6.636 billion because that money was already stolen or siphoned “BEFORE” the so-called “reprioritisation” exercise kicks in.

Long story short, Najib and Serigar got themselves into the wrong side of the law when they deliberately and creatively diverted RM1.2 billion (from Chinese companies in ECRL and SSER projects), RM220 million (from KLIA fund), RM1.3 billion (from B1M fund) and RM2 billion (from Bank Negara or Central Bank’s sale of land) to pay one party – IPIC (RM4.78 billion).

IPIC (Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co) was the loan shark (analogically speaking) that Najib had borrowed money from to cover up his 1MDB debts, the sovereign fund from which he and his band of crooks had plundered earlier on. But how did Najib get himself involved with the loan shark?

Mr. Najib’s “Ponzi Scheme“, disguised under 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad), had accumulated debt of more than RM50 billion by 2016 when the scheme was discovered and exposed. Abu Dhabi was approached to bailout 1MDB. In return for unspecified amount of assets from 1MDB, IPIC agreed to lend US$1 billion to 1MDB and assume payments on US$3.5 billion of the Malaysian fund’s debt.

It was believed that one of the assets sought by Abu Dhabi in the debt-for-asset-swap exercise was Bandar Malaysia. To the Arab’s horror, Mr. Najib had “secretly sold off Bandar Malaysia” to somebody else – China. Bandar Malaysia essentially became “Bandar China” via a sale of 16-plots of extremely valuable Sg. Besi land to China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC).

That’s right, not only Najib was a thief, he was also a conman. Abu Dhabi was furious for being treated like a sucker and demanded its money back. The Kingdom of U.A.E. hadn’t a clue that they would be scammed by fellow Muslim brother Najib Razak. IPIC claimed 1MDB and Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance (of which PM Najib was the minister) failed to perform their contractual obligations under the bailout deal.

1MDB refused to pay and after IPIC took the dispute to arbitration in London, 1MDB said it was “confident in its legal position” and had even submitted a “robust” response through legal counsel. Najib administration had even bravely screamed at IPIC – “See You in Court!!” 1MDB only agreed to pay back the Abu Dhabi’s US$80 billion sovereign-wealth fund after it had lost its case in a London court.

The man who dragged Abu Dhabi into the 1MDB scandal was none other than Khadem Al Qubaisi, former managing director of IPIC. He was working with Jho Low (Low Taek Jho), whom in turn was Najib’s partner-in-crime. 1MDB claimed to have been paid to the IPIC or its subsidiaries a whopping US$3.51 billion, but Abu Dhabi said they had received none.

As a result, 1MDB has to pay IPIC the US$3.51 billion all over again, after claiming they had already paid the money. Najib administration, of course, failed and refused to explain what happened to the US$3.51 billion that had already been paid. As it turned out, 1MDB had paid US$3.51 to Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) – a fake subsidiary of IPIC (the real subsidiary is Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar)).

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to guess where had the US$3.51 billion gone. The charges against Najib and Serigar were just the beginning. In April 2017, Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani revealed the existence of a letter confirming that Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI), or Aabar BVI, was a subsidiary of IPIC even though the Abu Dhabi state-owned firm has denied it.

Interestingly, 1MDB former president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy had testified to both the auditor-general and the Public Accounts Committee that the state fund had already paid US$1.367 billion in collateral deposits in 2012, US$993 million in options termination compensation in 2014, and an additional US$1.15 billion in “top-up security deposits”, also in 2014, to the IPIC’s “fake” subsidiary.

Arul “Anaconda” Kanda Kandasamy was the same snake oil salesman who had been running around telling all and sundry that 1MDB was in good health. As far back as 2015, Mr. Arul had lied about the cash in the state investment firm’s BSI Singapore bank account. He updated the 1MDB Board that the balance of US$939,874,085 had been redeemed and had been held as “cash”since 31st December 2014.

In reality, not only was there no “CASH”, but documents supplied by 1MDB relating to its Brazen Sky Limited (BSI) account in Singapore were false bank statements. After exposed by Sarawak Report, Arul Kanda, with his pants down, made a series of retractions before clarified that the assets held by BSI were in the form of “units” instead of “cash”.

After Najib Razak and Mohd Irwan Serigar “Serigala” Abdullah, the next lucky guy to be arrested and charged for the same CBT involving government funds will be none other than Arul “Anaconda” Kanda Kandasamy. If Mr. Serigar was guilty of running red light, Mr. Arul is definitely guilty of speeding, not wearing seat belt, driving a stolen car, using mobile while driving and whatnot. - FT

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